Straker's rank

ok, Straker came from the US Air Force before gaining command of the
SHADO unit. Does anyone have any idea what rank he was originally?

Obviously it's less than a General since he's subordinate to General
Henderson. And it's more than a Colonel (since Colonel's are
reporting to him)

Even non-originally, there's still a little bit of confusion in my
own mind, since there's no General's rank within the UK Air Force.
(USA Air Force, yes). And the rank of Commander only appears within
the Navy (both countries) and it's less rank than a Colonel!

Obviously the SHADO organisation has it's own ranking hirearchy; but
still, was just curious if anyone has any further light to shed on
this :-)

UK ranks: http://www.armedforces.co.uk/mod/listings/l0017.html
US ranks:
http://www.tesarta.com/www/resources/library/militaryrank.html

--- In [hidden email], "jedi_majestic" <majestik66@h...> wrote:
> Straker came from the US Air Force before gaining command of the
SHADO unit. Does anyone have any idea what rank he was originally? <

I'm pretty sure, from "Identified" and other episodes, that he was a
full Colonel.

> Obviously it's less than a General since he's subordinate to
General Henderson. And it's more than a Colonel (since Colonels are
reporting to him). <

Now, yes, but his USAF days were ten or so years ago. And it's a nice
point as to whether Straker is subordinate to Henderson because
Henderson is a General, or because the general is head of the IAC.
Henderson doesn't care, I suspect, choosing to be the General when it
suits him.

> Even non-originally, there's still a little bit of confusion in my
own mind, since there's no General's rank within the UK Air Force
[...] <

That's the RAF, you... <g>

> [...] (US Air Force, yes). And the rank of Commander only appears
within the Navy (both countries) and it's less rank than a Colonel!
Obviously the SHADO organisation has it's own ranking hirearchy; but
still, was just curious if anyone has any further light to shed on
this :-) <

This is a case of Anderson Ranking Syndrome, wherein the heads of
military or paramilitary organisations (with the singular exception
of Spectrum) were always Commanders, and their underlings, the
heroes, always had high field-grade ranks. Thus, we had:

WSP -- Commander Zero and Colonel Zodiac
WASP -- Commander Shore and Captain Tempest
SHADO -- Commander Straker and Colonels Freeman, Foster, Lake, etc.,
and Captains Carlin and Waterman

Basically, Gerry and/or Sylvia thought that "Commander" sounded like
a title that ought to be given to the head honcho of their
organisations, and so they did. I can't disagree: having the boss as
Commander _sounds_ good, and gives instant recognition of the fact
(particularly to kids) that he _is_ the boss -- the Commanding
Officer, in fact, but that term is too long to use all the time.

That "Commander" is a high-ish naval rank (equivalent to Lt Colonel
and Wing Commander in other services) is a quirk of history that the
Andersons ignored, much as they ignored other inconveniences like
that (the WASPs, for instance, seem to have a very limited rank
structure for their officers -- Ensign, Lieutenant, Captain,
Commander, and that's it!).

Phil

CONTENTS DELETED

--- In [hidden email], "jedi_majestic" <majestik66@h...>
wrote:
>
>
> ok, Straker came from the US Air Force before gaining command of
the
> SHADO unit. Does anyone have any idea what rank he was originally?

Straker was a full Colonel in the US Air Force, he wore the silver
eagle insignia on his lapels.

Nick

--- jedi_majestic <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>
>
> ok, Straker came from the US Air Force before
> gaining command of the
> SHADO unit. Does anyone have any idea what rank he
> was originally?

when he was blown up, Straker was, I believe, a
captain or a lt. col. unfortunately, i cannot remember
where this long winded discussion of straker's rank i
remember took place, 'cause we were trying to
establish his age in 1980 and it somehow equalled out
to around 41 for time in grade = rank. Technically,
the way i understand it from some strange discussions
i've overheard, WHEN you became a certain rank has
more to do with who you can command in the military
than the rank itself. I beleive Straker was referred
to as Col. Straker, Commander of SHADO at one point.
Commander referring to his position vis a vis SHADO,
not his formal rank ... not to mention the fact that
the man was stuck in his "final" rank as he was
officially retired military ---------

does shado qualify as black ops?

actually, in the AF, Colonel is the rank just below
Brigadier General. I think Straker achieved Col. when
he was given command of SHADO. All ranks of recruits
after that mean that even if the rank is the same, the
date of rank is later and Straker gets to tell them
what to do <g> lol (and maybe the writers had rank
block as opposed to writer's block???? *snerk*)

> Even non-originally, there's still a little bit of
> confusion in my
> own mind, since there's no General's rank within the
> UK Air Force.
> (USA Air Force, yes). And the rank of Commander only
> appears within
> the Navy (both countries) and it's less rank than a
> Colonel!

The Commander may be a nod to his command of all
forces within SHADO as it is a combined command: Air,
Sea, Land and Space. And, as you noted, the ranking
within SHADO does seem to combine things under the
umbrella of SHADO with only a nod to "regular
military" -- most of his personnel are not recruited
from regular military of any country, as far as we can
tell: Foster was a test pilot with, I think, an RAF
background; Ford was a broadcast tv person with tech
capabilities; Virginia Lake was a tech person, with
security ratings, but not a military background ---
>
> Obviously the SHADO organisation has it's own
> ranking hirearchy; but
> still, was just curious if anyone has any further
> light to shed on
> this :-)

As you say -- definitely in a sphere all its own.

hope i've helped muddy the waters .... i mean, confuse
the ------ hope this helps.

dragon





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--- Phil <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>
> I'm pretty sure, from "Identified" and other
> episodes, that he was a
> full Colonel.

Straker definitely has the full Colonel insignias on
his USAF uniform in "Identified".






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